Due to the recent regulatory push towards e- mobility, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) will likely represent the largest share of the market by the year 2030 [1,2]. The amount of retired Lithium-ion batteries, reaching the end of their first life after approximately 10 years of usage, will therefore massively increase: to maximize their value, a second life could be included in the device lifecycle before dismantling and recycling, with a circular economy approach [3]. Life2SLB project was born to further investigate this framework, together with its mother company Free2move eSolutions.
The immaturity of this field, lacking a unique reference framework and standardized solutions, represents both an opportunity to introduce innovative paradigms and the first roadblock that a SLB company must face. Most of the initial efforts within the project have therefore been aimed at the creation of a common knowledge base on such topic, leading to the publication of a scientific paper on an IEEE journal.
To face the uncertainty related to SLB competitiveness, a predictive tool has been developed by considering the main variables affecting such business. The result of this work is a flexible model enabling the comparison of several future scenarios, thus providing useful guidelines in the definition of the optimal mid- and long-term business strategy for a SLB company.
To overcome performance and reliability concerns, a testing procedure to assess second-life products feasibility has been designed, and it is currently under development in Free2move eSolutions’ plant located in Cosio Valtellino. Furthermore, a Machine Learning algorithm able to estimate the residual value of spent battery packs by means of its state of health (SOH) has been developed by Life2SLB: this outcome can be directly employed in an industrial context to estimate the residual battery value in a fast and reliable way.
Principal Academic Tutors
Sonia Leva, Department of Energy PoliMi
Academic Tutor
Aldo Canova, DENERG PoliTo
External Institutions
Free2move eSolutions
External Tutors
Lorenzo Grande, Free2move eSolutions
Marta Rosso, Free2move eSolutions
Team members
Emanuele Groppo, Electronic Engineering PoliTo
Giacomo Coslop, Ingegneria Energetica e Nucleare PoliTo
Andrea Borgo, Automotive Engineering PoliTo
Manfredi Gangi, Electrical Engineering PoliMi
Alberto Valdes Rey, Information Bioengineering PoliMi